MARTIN SCHRAM: Congressmen must put fiscal ideas on paper for all to see

Washington's Democratic and Republican leaders seem strangely lacking in fright as they are mere weeks away from plunging America off the much-feared fiscal cliff. And we've finally figured out why. They figure they are merely heading toward a fiscal bungee jump.

They seem to believe that, yes, they'll take the plunge and plummet downward. But then — boing!— some sort of lifeline will haul them skyward again.

Make no mistake: They know how they stifled job creation, by creating a perpetual uncertainty that caused all smart executives to freeze hiring in big corporations and small businesses and government agencies at all levels.

This year, as Washington pretended it was promoting job creation during Campaign 2012, it was really perpetuating an uncertainty that grew into epic (and almost panic) proportions. Executives in the private and public sector instituted hiring freezes.

Good governance seemed a high-risk roll. So they stuck to name-calling and negative ads.

For four weeks following the election, they began what they called "negotiations" but really gave us more games.

Initially the White House was smart. It detailed what President Obama always said he wanted most: Letting income tax rates rise to just over 39 percent for those Americans earning more than $250,000 a year.

Led by House Speaker John Boehner, Republicans initially argued to keep low tax rates for millionaires and declined to detail the cuts they wanted most. They said Obama should first propose cuts he wanted Republicans to make, especially in entitlements.

But the other day, after wasting weeks, Boehner proposed the GOP's first real compromise — a plan that offers $2.2 trillion in savings, a bit more than Obama's plan. It includes $800 billion in new tax revenue, achieved by keeping low tax rates for the wealthiest, but shrinking their tax deductions.

Put the plans on paper and you see a deal can be reached now before we get to the edge of the cliff. But when Washington's famous politicians get in front of a microphone, all that vanishes.

They start performing as if they are in a World Wrestling Federation tag-team match. Boehner wailed that, "We're nowhere." But later he laid out his real details. And the White House called Boehner's plan "nothing new."

That's why you must jump into the ring, to lead our leaders.

Here's what we need you to do: Contact your senators and representatives. Demand they make public their bottom line spending cuts to keep us from plunging off the cliff.